The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have, after a server crash and turmoil, begun announcing the scores of the common admission test (CAT) 2009.
While IIM-Ahmedabad and -Shillong put up their lists of shortlisted candidates on the websites, the results of the other IIMs were awaited at the time of going to press. The heavy traffic on the website forced the IIMs to shut the server down for several hours, leaving most candidates anxious till evening.
“We are experiencing unusually heavy load on scorecard access server. We will reopen the server after 3 hours,” the website said during the day.
“The server is down since morning and, at 3:45 pm, IIMs have put up a message again that the website will be on for maintenance for a few more hours. Most candidates have not been able to view the results. Those who have viewed, said IIMs had given 150 scores for each section. Unusually, this time, IIM Ahmedabad has called around 1,000 candidates, unlike 700 it usually calls for interviews. Besides, IIM Shillong has called about 1,000 students. Some 120 students are common in the lists of both the institutes,” said Gautam Puri, vice-chairman, Career Launcher.
Earlier, when the computer-based test system for CAT was conducted, the students had to face a tough time, owing to technical glitches in the first phase. Avantika Garg, a candidate, said: “The server crash has added to our nervousness and it is a difficult situation.”
CAT is mandatory for the students who wish to study at the seven IIMs and over 150 other business schools in India. “Very few students have been able to see the results since the IIMs announced them. It is a major handicap, as many people have not been able to know out their scores. Moreover, only two institutes have put up their lists and the other IIMs are yet to come out with the list of shortlisted candidates,” said Ajay Arora, director, TIME, Bangalore.
On the other hand, there were a few who were able to view the results in a flawless manner. Ankit Srivastava, a student from Career Launcher, Bangalore, who has been called for an interview at IIM Ahmedabad, said: “I got a call from IIM-A and am gearing up for the interview now. I heard about the server crash, but I could view the result at around 12:30 pm today without any inconvenience.”
Srivastava, a mechanical engineer from IIT, Delhi, has been working in Bangalore since August 2006. “After mechanical engineering, I worked in technology for some time, but realised it was not my cup of tea and switched over to consulting,” said Srivastava, who is a senior analyst at Analytics Quotient.
The computer-based CAT 2009 was conducted by IIMs and Prometric, which invited a lot of criticism from various sections due for mismanagement. Nearly 241,000 applicants registered for CAT this year. After CAT results are announced, each IIM will send interview letters to the candidates it has shortlisted. The criteria for shortlisting at various IIMs is different.
